SHORELINE — There were aspects of Friday’s game that Mountlake Terrace coach Nalin Sood admitted could have been better.

His team gave up an uncharacteristically high 20 points in the first quarter, struggled at times offensively and made just 2 of 6 free throws in the fourth quarter. But with the game on the line, in front of a hostile crowd that turned up the volume late, Mountlake Terrace’s players didn’t panic.

And because of that, the eighth-ranked Hawks held on for a 52-50 boys basketball win against No. 10 Shorewood.

“We can be a little bit better,” Sood said. “But I don’t think we can be better with our fight. I thought we had a great fight, a great competitiveness.”

Michael Lotz’s jumper with 7:40 left gave Mountlake Terrace (16-2, 10-1 league) its first lead since the opening minutes of the WesCo 3A South game. Greg Bowman then tacked on four points during a 9-1 run that put the Hawks in front 52-44 with two minutes left.

But Shorewood (14-4, 9-2) made a final push. Josh Hawkinson, a 6-foot-9 center committed to Washington State, scored two of his 22 points with 42 seconds left, cutting Terrace’s lead to 52-50. He also had 15 rebounds.

That’s where the rally ended as Ben Andrews’ layup bounced off the rim in the final seconds.

It was the 10th straight win for the Hawks, who haven’t lost in more than a month. And it gave Terrace sole possession of first place in the division.

“Obviously this is big,” Sood said, “but wherever you end up in the league standings, you just want to be playing well.”

The Hawks had to earn it against a Shorewood team that had won 11 straight since losing to Terrace in mid-December.

Bowman finished with 10 points, all after halftime, and added 12 rebounds and three blocks. Loren Lacassehis counterpart inside, tacked on 12 points.

“We talked about having poise, confidence and focus,” Sood said. “In this environment, if you don’t have any one of those things, you’re probably going to get beat.”

On this night, Mountlake Terrace had all three.

Jayson Jenks: 206-464-8277 or jjenks@seattletimes.com; on Twitter: @jaysonjenks. Jayson Jenks covers the Seahawks for the Seattle Times. He also provides coverage of other Seattle-area teams throughout the year.